September 19, 2016 - The Time Machines

The Time Machines Star trails wheel around the south celestial pole in this long-exposure photo from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), located on the 5,000 meter-high (16,400 ft) Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes. This remote location is one of the driest places on Earth, and thus perfect for observing the faint radiation from the Universe’s dimmest objects and coldest regions. Like the titular device in H.G. Wells’s 1895 classic The Time Machine, these sensitive telescopes are virtual time machines, revealing how distant objects in our Universe looked millions or billions of years in the past. Born 150 years ago this week, Wells would undoubtedly have lauded the scientific endeavors of ALMA, which is operated by a consortium of international research institutions.